Meles’s styles “Wag more less bark”
If you know the history of Meles Naziwaye, he was one of those kind of politicians who used to love barking on people who didn’t accept his tribal and despotic regime, even he barked like a rabid dog on the Ethiopian people when he entered Addis Ababa, he cursed in front of our face,our own flag. He is one spiteful and arrogant man who used to spill out crap out of his mouth, but these days his behavior changed, now he is wagging his tail so much around the western countries like a dog who is dying to get his master's attention. What a loser he is, it is a clear fact that he cannot win the Ethiopian people's heart and mind, the only way he can stay on power by force, Ethiopian rejected him on his face. But now he is incapable of cheating the Ethiopian people so what he is doing right now, cheating the western folks.. But his time will soon end...Meles Spent the poor peoples of Ethiopian wealth for lobbying, his goal just to stop the Ethiopian peoples democratic movement, the question is, Can he stop our democratic movement? maybe he can stop HR 2003 for a few month but can he stop the struggle? Hell NO! bark doggie bark, bark.... "The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue." --Anonymous A good lesson for Meles

Ethiopia - Open letter to Professor Ephrem Isaac

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for the mediation efforts that you and other fellow Ethiopians have been undertaking in Ethiopia.


Professor Ephrem Issac (Photo SEED)
The release of some of Meles Zenawi’s political hostages, despite the ransom paid to the tyrant in the form of transfer of his guilt unto his victims under duress, is one little step in the right direction to resolve the huge political challenges facing Ethiopia.It is with a great deal of interest that I followed your interviews with ETV and Addis Dimits Radio. Unfortunately, the ETV show was done to brainwash the nation how merciful the tyrant is for releasing the most “dangerous criminals” in the country who were just condemned by the Kangaroo court to spend the rest of their lives in jails. I felt unease when I watched such eminent Ethiopians like you to have been used willfully as propaganda tool.
It was quite troubling to watch you on national TV heaping accolade on tyrant Meles Zenawi. According to your eminence, Meles Zenawi is a wise, visionary and magnanimous leader and his decision to release the popular leaders makes him a holy man. I have no problem with your assertions provided you can support your claims with hard facts. I am sure there is no single document or fact in any library in the world that can corroborate your unjustified and misplaced accolade.
As an eminent historian, you are fully aware of the fact that, even Col. Mengistu Hailemariam, as is always the case with other despots, became a bold dictator after his followers and admirers started calling him the infallible great leader whose crimes against humanity were the right measures to exterminate reactionaries and agents of imperialism. Be it for the purpose of diplomacy or for its own sake, praising destructive tyrants can only backfire with the undesired outcome of emboldening them to get more committed to unleashing even greater atrocities and terrorist acts.
Your interview with Addis Dimts was as good as it could have been. When you were asked what your views were on HR2003, you said that you had not read the bill. Well! That should not have raised any concern, had you not avoided direct questions whether you have been making any efforts to help the tyrannical regime to kill the bill. Though you spoke at great length expressing your patriotic thinking, you said that you would oppose the bill if it is a scheme to “enslave” Ethiopia. As you are aware, Meles Zenawi, the man who has actually enslaves the whole nation, succeeded in frustrating HR5680 using highly paid agents and lobbyists including DLA Piper which is paid over $50,000 a month to do such a dirty job. Professor Al Mariam was honest enough to tell you that he found it hard to believe you did not have a chance to scan through the ten-page document. In case you honestly did not have time to have a look at HR2003, which is not significantly different from HR5680, before you allegedly went to the US Congress accompanied by Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York to discuss issues related to the bill, here are some of the most eye-catching phrases:
Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007 - States that it is U.S. policy to: (1) support human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press, peacekeeping capacity building, and economic development in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; (2) collaborate with Ethiopia in the Global War on Terror; (3) seek the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia; (4) foster stability, democracy, and economic development in the region; and (5) strengthen U.S.-Ethiopian relations.


Dear Professor,
After your visits to the US Congress, it has been reported by credible sources that Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Lantos was directed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer not to mark-up H.R. 2003 on July 31, 2007.
Why does the tyrant lose sleep over the good intention of the US Congress to help promote human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press and steady economic development in Ethiopia? What has HR2003 has to do with the release of political hostages? The answer is simple. Dictators love no one but themselves. Meles Zenawi knows full well that he will never have a place in a democratic Ethiopia, where nobody will be allowed to be above the law. His victims, dead, maimed and jailed, will be vindicated if democracy prevails. This may haunt him day and night.
Nobody should rush to condemn you as a mediator with a sinister motive. However, one might be tempted to point out the glaring fact that any mediator should make utmost efforts to remain neutral. If, at any time, you try to help the tyrant to derail a bill that can greatly facilitate the attainment of democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law and good governance, you will inevitably face the wrath of millions of Ethiopians who still respect you as an elderly Ethiopian scholar. The release of some political hostages, who should never have spent a single day in jails, cannot be exchanged for the aspiration of the whole nation to be free at last.
In your ETV interview, you also said that you would make efforts to reconcile the Meles regime with the Ethiopian Diaspora before the new millennium. Common sense has it that those of us, who have tasted the sweetness of liberty in exile, hate not the ethnic junta in power but their misdeeds and misrule. We hate their heinous crimes against humanity, injustice, corruption and their unacceptable dictatorship.
Who cares about the so-called new millennium if it doesn’t usher in a new era where every Ethiopian lives in peace and liberty governed by elected leaders? If our long and glorious history fails to make Ethiopia a country that its citizens are proud of, who cares about the millennium party that Meles Zenawi and his servants have hijacked for cheap propaganda ploy?
Dear Professor,
You should not also forget the fact Meles Zenawi should stop his futile effort to reverse the popular demand for a new Ethiopia where leaders are accountable to the people. You will also do Ethiopia a great service if you remind the tyrant to start living as a man of the new millennium rather than being a stone-age despot whose survival hinges upon the barrel of the gun. If he listens to this simple piece of suggestion and surrenders power to the elected, then we will all join you to praise him as “THE GREATEST EHIOPIAN OF THE MILLENIUM.” We will hang his pictures on top of every mountain for the whole world to appreciate and admire a great saint.
Here is what one of the greatest leaders ever born did before the festivities of the millennium. On the eve of the new millennium, December 31, 1999, Nelson Mandela returned to his prison cell in Robben Island, where he was locked up for 18 years to light a "flame for freedom".
Handing a big white candle to his successor, President Thabo Mbeki, he said: "There are good men and women around the world that will always keep that flame burning. It symbolizes that the freedom flame can never be put down by anybody."
The great man said with a great sense of humility: "In particular, let us make our country and the world a safer and more caring and respectful place.” He never said let us oppress, kill, maim and jail innocent victims. Meles Zenawi, whom some naively thought would be our Mandela, is a man who is out to turn the clock back to stone-age. He is the one who wants to put down the flames of freedom. What a visionary leader?
The new millennium can be a watershed in Ethiopian history only if every Ethiopian, regardless of their ethnic origin, social status, gender, age, educational background or political affiliation, gets equal opportunities to attain their fullest potential. The new millennium can only make sense only if Ethiopians will never be enslaved and brutalized by dictators who continuously shatter our hopes for a new era and condemn us to live under the darkness of tyranny and abject poverty. Celebrating the so-called millennium with the lords of poverty who are allergic to the dynamic changes of the 21st century is nothing but re-enacting April fool’s day in Ethiopia on September 12.
Dear Professor,
If the tyrant allows you a peace envoy to discuss what ordinary Ethiopians wish to have for the new millennium, please tell him to- free all political hostages without any preconditions and ransom- respect the sanctity of life and human rights- respect the rule of law and independence of the judiciary- respect the constitution and allow citizens to elect their leaders- allow citizens to stage peaceful protests or go on strike without any fear- give equal access to public funded media to all citizens- ensure freedom of the press and stop censoring the internet- close down illegal party run businesses that undermine free market economy- create an enabling environment to defeat abject poverty- start a comprehensive national reconciliation- and most importantly hand over power to those who have clear mandates to rule.
As a historian, you should also remind Meles Zenawi, who does not seem to be interested in learning from the past, the simple truth that “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” as George Santayana said.
An enlightened nation can no longer live under the darkness of tyranny. No leader can rule Ethiopia with arrogance and force but with humility and meekness. If Meles Zenawi refuses to learn from history, I suggest that he should invite Col. Mengistu Hailumariam as a guest of honour to his millennium party. After all, they are two sides of the same coin that have turned poor Ethiopia up side down! Nobody with a conscience wants to rave, dance, wine and dine with bloody tyrants.Dear Professor
Finally, I would like to beg for your forgiveness for being too bold to say my mind, but have no intention of diminishing your great patriotic efforts and accomplishments. My intention is to make a small point so that your good deeds remain untainted with doubt. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

God bless Ethiopia.

Bipartisan Duo of Ex-Congressional Heavyweights Blocking Action Against Ethiopia

DEPARTMENT Washington Babylon
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED July 25, 2007

There have been a series of accounts out of Ethiopia recently that describe a nasty situation there, including a Human Rights Watch report earlier this month that said the Ethiopian military had “forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in the country’s eastern Somali . . . while escalating its campaign against a separatist insurgency movement.” Government troops were “destroying villages and property, confiscating livestock, and forcing civilians to relocate,” according to Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the military strategy behind them, these abuses violate the laws of war.” Eyewitness accounts offered to Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops had been “burning homes and property, including the recent harvest and other food stocks intended for the civilian population, confiscating livestock and, in a few cases, firing upon and killing fleeing civilians.”

Despite that record, the Bush Administration views Ethiopia as an important counterterrorism ally, especially given Ethiopia’s recent involvement in Somalia, and annually provides the regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. But some in Congress have grown weary of abuses committed by Zenawi’s government. Earlier this month a House subcommittee passed a bill that would limit American aid to Ethiopia and ban government officials linked to human rights abuses from coming to the United States. In the Senate, Patrick Leahy of Vermont is seeking passage of a measure that would review some of the military assistance that is being provided.

But two congressmen-turned-lobbyists–former House Majority Leaders Richard Armey, the Republican from Texas, and Missouri Democrat Richard Gephardt–are working hard to block full congressional action against the Zenawi regime. The duo work with the firm of DLA Piper, which federal disclosure records show is being paid at least $50,000 per month by the Ethiopian government for “strategic advice and counsel.”

In 2006, the House International Relations Committee approved the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act, which criticized the government for its human rights record, called for it to free jailed opposition leaders and restricted security assistance. But the full House never voted on the bill. Two sources that follow the issue–one a former Hill staffer and the other a lobbyist on African affairs–tell me that Armey twisted the arm of then-House Speaker Denny Hastert to ensure that it didn’t come up for a vote. “Armey has a lot of influence over there,” the former Hill staffer said. “A lot of people in the GOP leadership owe their positions to him.”

Armey has no pull with the new Democratic leadership so now Gephardt has apparently been called on to block full passage of this year’s version of the bill. Gephardt, incidentally, also lobbies for the government of Turkey (another Piper client to the tune of $100,000 per month), as was recently detailed in a terrific New Republic piece in which author Michael Crowley wrote about Gephardt’s efforts to stop Congress from declaring as genocide the Turkish massacre of Armenians during the early twentieth century:

A few years ago, [Gephardt] was a working-class populist who cast himself as a tribune of the underdog–including the Armenians. Back in 1998, Gephardt attended a memorial event hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America at which, according to a spokeswoman for the group, “he spoke about the importance of recognizing the genocide.” Two years later, Gephardt was one of three House Democrats who co-signed a letter to then House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging Hastert to schedule an immediate vote on a genocide resolution. “We implore you,” the letter read, arguing that Armenian-Americans “have waited long enough for Congress to recognize the horrible genocide.” Today, few people are doing more than Gephardt to ensure that the genocide bill goes nowhere. It’s one thing to flip-flop on, say, tax cuts or asbestos reform. But, when it comes to genocide, you would hope for high principle to carry the day.

Piper’s lobbyists have been working the “war on terrorism” angle hard, arguing that even a hand-slap of Ethiopia for human rights abuses will jeopardize its support in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. (And we all know what a smashingly successful collaboration that’s been.)

I called Armey and Gephardt but never heard back from them. Piper did, however, send me a statement which said:

The U.S. first established diplomatic relations with Ethiopia more than a century ago and Ethiopia remains a close ally today, particularly in the global war against terrorism. It is crucial for the United States to have friends and allies in the strategically important Horn of Africa region who are committed to democracy, stability and moderation. The firm is assisting Ethiopia in strengthening bilateral relations with the U.S., including increasing humanitarian, economic and development assistance, expanding trade and investment opportunities, and enhancing relationships with financial, academic and public policy institutions.

read more..

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000631

Viewpoint
Political mugging and justice in Ethiopia
By Fekade Shewakena
July 24, 2007

Ethiopia has become a country of perplexing paradox and Meles Zenawi is exasperating it. We are poor in the middle of plenty, full of rain and rivers but desert dry, the growth statistics and the number of the unemployed and hungry shooting up concurrently, blessed with the beauty of ethnic and cultural diversity but sick of people who try to make it ugly and now, a land where criminals sit as judges and killers pardon the innocent. It is breathtaking.
Leaving the so called pardon shenanigans aside, the release of the CUD leaders is huge relief for all who love democracy and justice and particularly for all Ethiopians who have been watching their country go completely off track and into the abyss. We know there are many people whose pictures we have not seen and names we don’t know, that are still suffering in prisons in many parts of the country for the only crime of supporting the CUD. According to reports we hear they are in the thousands. Whether Mr. Meles Zenawi acts to expeditiously release them would show that he is convinced that the current track he is on is not sustainable. His actions and the way he tries to spin everything in his favor trying to look like good, including the so called pardon request by the prisoners, do not point to neither his sincerity nor his grasp of reality. Meles seems to be living in a bubble created by his delusions.


What he tries to do now to the leaders of CUD is what my American friends call mugging - an aggravated assault employed by dark alley robbers. His attempt to parade the so called pardon letter to the public as a way to cover his crimes is totally counter productive and will only add to his long lost credibility. Meles now has another good opportunity that a rarely generous history keeps providing him from time to time. Whether we are embarking on a hopeful future depends to a large extent on his decisions. Except people with delusions, all of us, including the Kolo vendor kids on the streets of Addis Ababa know who shed the blood of hundreds and hundreds of innocent people.

As the Washington Post editorial of last Saturday put it, the release of the prisoners “is good news but they never should have been there in the first place." They have done nothing other than using their rights within the constitution to protest an election widely reported by observers as fraudulent and day light robbery. We have seen the charges crumble in court even without the defense of the accused. The open truth that everybody saw is that Meles has committed massacre as testified by the Inquiry Commission that he himself, not the CUD, had set up. Mr. Prime Minister has blood on his hands and to point his blood-stained finger at others with the intent that it can cover his crimes is sheer foolish, unproductive and does not help move the country forward. Admitting his mistakes and trying to redress the suffering of people who lost loved ones when he ordered the killing of protesters and raiding of homes of innocent people would go a long way to saw the seeds of sanity and conflict resolution in Ethiopia. If Meles works towards redressing these crimes against our people he will have the support of all of us. If he keeps trying to tell us to blame the CUD for his own crimes, he is simply spitting in our face. No self-respecting people would accept this level of dehumanization for long. Meles and his supporters should be bothered by this insane direction and should understand their blind support cannot help anybody’s cause, including theirs.


No Rule of Law
The fact of the matter is that there is no rule of law in Ethiopia. There is virtually no sensible Ethiopian that sincerely believes that the death penalty and the life imprisonment decisions of the dolls sitting in that court were made by judges. Many, in fact, see it as Meles’s Freudian slip. Deep in what psychologists call the super-ego, where the subconscious part of our thinking resides, he wants to kill them. But then again he also thought of even more sadistic way of killing them and changed the sentence to life in prison so that they will die a long tortuous death. This should have been laughable if we were not talking about human lives. Meles my have found some self gratification by entertaining these sadisms and attempting to humiliate the prisoners in much the same way like street-side bullies do. If he thinks this decreases an iota from the respect we have for the leaders of CUD, he is wrong. On the contrary, this is a clear exhibition of the smallness syndrome that Meles Zenawi cannot get rid of for many years now. It is something that made him unable to transform himself from a guerrilla leader into a statesman.

Psychologists tell us that such individuals who try to humiliate and attack their captives are those who are not sure of themselves and think of their relative size (not necessarily physical) against their adversaries as very small. It is the characteristics of individuals who live in constant fear of others and a chewing inferiority complex. No normal human being tries to bully people under their captivity. If a mugger asks you to choose between your wallet and your life after having trained his knife on your neck, the choice to make is clear and natural. For the opposition it is clear. Meles can take the wallet. But like all muggers he should at least stop to sell his exploits in an open market as he is trying to do now. It is cowardly and will not take anything from the dignity of the CUD leaders. A few Ethiopians that I was able to talk to back home unanimously told me the same thing over and over about the so called pardon letter the prisoners are alleged to have signed. They all said, for all they care Meles can make them sign statements declaring that they were throwing bombs and were driving tanks and shooting mortars on the palace. The problem he doesn’t seem to understand is finding a single human being who would believe him.

Neither are Mr. Meles Zenawi’s temper tantrums and calling the representatives of donor counties “shameful” any helpful. The donors have been between a rock and a hard place over the issue of the political prisoners. The Ethiopian people do not believe they have done enough to bring sanity and in fact stood accomplices to Meles for a long time now. I don’t think their small attempts to bring sanity should elicit such a harsh label from Meles. This is having the meaning of shamefulness upside down. Accusing US congressmen of trying to run his government like a banana republic from Capitol Hill is also rude and crude polemics as well as embarrassing and pretentious. This is not what the good congressmen were trying to do. Many of them want to help Ethiopia and many among them like Congressman Donald Payne were for some time eluded into thinking that the Prime Minister was one best hope for Africa. They discovered how wrong they were after many years. But this should even be more shameful and embarrassing for Meles himself who has hired lobbyists that roam the halls of congress soliciting congressional support for him against his political adversaries. Many of us here in the US have witnessed last month where discussion on an Ethiopian human rights bill was delayed because the lobbyists were hard at work and threatened that the Prime Minister would take the prisoners hostage if the bill showed up for mark-up. These are the kind of things where the word “shameful” should appropriately be used.

Many of us, Ethiopians both in Diaspora and in Ethiopia want to help build a better country. We understand we cannot make it a paradise overnight. But we want to make sure we are on the right track. Our country is in deep and deepening trouble. Our problems cannot be solved by doing drips and drabs here and there. Meles Zenawi has created a system that is rotting to the core. He wants us to focus on the transient glitters of aid-induced infrastructural development and economic performance ignoring the problems of governance, and the rule of law. There is a proliferation of ethnic and political conflicts in our midst. Some of these problems can threaten our survival as a unified nation. Ignoring to work on solving these problems now is simply waiting for the bubble to explode in our face. What is being reported in the Ogaden, starving a whole population and rampaging through villages in a collective punishment is not the kind of country we should be. The ONLF are where the TPLF has once been. It is a twist of irony that Mr. Meles Zenawi accuses them of what the Derg was accusing him of. They should be presented with a political resolution of the grievances they have. The Oromos who suffer because of their association with the OLF is disquieting, to say the least. The OLF can play a very critical centralizing role in both Ethiopia and the region if we find a negotiated resolution of the problem. There is no sustainable peace in Ethiopia if we keep marginalizing these dissident organizations and by labeling them terrorists.

The involvement in Somalia is insanity. We now have a Baghdad in our hands. It is obvious Meles went into this mess to tap into the anti-terrorism industry and milk the West for political and military and other aid. Meles is trying to do this by artificially manufacturing terrorists. The poorest country on the planet cannot afford to do that which is difficult for the richest. Every one of the Ethiopian soldiers has to get out of Somalia tonight. It is sad that this is being done in Ethiopia’s name. Ethiopia has no business in propping up ethnic warlords whose people despise like the trash.

The leaders of Kinijit have once more demonstrated that they are far sighted and stood to their promises. Peaceful citizens who want to struggle peacefully to change the country for the better. Whatever suffering and humiliation they received, we believe they received on behalf of millions of their supporters. They should be proud of that. Meles should start match them, beginning by stopping being a street side bully. No one will take away their heroic resistance to make sense in a country swarmed by senseless brutality and cruelty.

The only way forward is to come up with a plan where everybody wins.

--------
The writer, Fekade Shewakena, can be reached at fekadeshewakena@yahoo.com

Problematic Ally

Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A12


MORE THAN once during the Cold War, the United States aligned itself with dictatorial or corrupt, but anticommunist, foreign governments, compromising democratic principles for perceived advantage against the Soviet Union. These choices were not necessarily wrong, but each one put the U.S. on a slippery slope, at the bottom of which lay a completely amoral foreign policy.

The Bush administration's global war on terrorism faces similar moral hazards. Even as President Bush correctly declares that ultimate victory against al-Qaeda hinges on the spread of freedom, he sometimes makes common cause with authoritarian regimes that promise to help eliminate terrorists in the here and now. Examples: Egypt, Pakistan and, more recently, Ethiopia, whose authoritarian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, was once a darling of the Clinton administration and has also forged close ties to the Bush administration. With Washington's blessing, Mr. Meles sent troops to Somalia in December to expel the radical Islamic Courts movement linked to al-Qaeda.



Yesterday 38 opposition politicians and activists walked out of jail in Addis Ababa, where they had been held for almost two years. That is good news, but they never should have been there in the first place. After Mr. Meles's party tried to deny its opponents the share of Parliament they won in an election in May 2005, protests erupted across the country, only to be crushed by Mr. Meles's security forces at a cost of 193 civilian lives. (Six police officers also died.) Thousands of people were detained, including the opposition leaders -- 35 of whom were sentenced to life in prison on preposterous charges of treason and inciting violence. Their release came after they signed a letter taking "full responsibility for the mistakes committed both individually and collectively" and begging for a pardon, which a regime-controlled board granted. Immediately after his release, opposition leader Hailu Shawel said he had signed the Orwellian statement under duress. But the fact that he and other leaders of civil society were released without restrictions on their political activity is a hopeful sign.

More political prisoners remain. Mr. Meles's troops also stand accused of human rights abuses in Somalia and in the country's internal war against rebels in the Ogaden region. The Bush administration has remained mostly quiet about all of this, though the State Department played a back-channel role helping to arrange the prisoners' release. The most visible U.S. pressure came in the form of a bill, sponsored by Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), which would link U.S. aid to Ethiopia's performance on human rights. It passed the House's Africa subcommittee, chaired by Mr. Payne, this week. Ethiopia is a strategic ally. But it will probably take more work by its hard-pressed civil society, and more pressure from the United States, before it can be called a democratic one


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072001945.html

THANK GOD THEY ARE FINALLY FREE!

Now is the time to make real the promise of Democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation (in ethiopian case tribalism) to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children.
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Martin Luther king

Economist- Off with their heads, maybe

EARLIER this year, Ethiopian courts released many of the country's most important political dissidents from the grim Kaliti jail on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. They had been there since they were rounded up by police following opposition protests (in which 193 people were killed) against flawed presidential elections in 2005. In another promising sign of reconciliation, charges against the 38 remaining defendants were reduced from treason and genocide to “outrage against the constitution” and “incitement to armed rebellion”.

So it was a real shock this week when the state prosecutor called for all 38 to be put to death. Those facing the firing squad include Hailu Shawel, the elderly head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party, and Berhanu Nega, the elected mayor of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Surely not, say queasy diplomats, aid types and even many in the Ethiopian government. The prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has made some progress in building infrastructure, tackling poverty and attracting foreign investment. He has even managed to turn himself into a close ally of America by invading Somalia last December to vanquish the Islamist regime in Mogadishu, suspected of harbouring al-Qaeda people. The last thing Mr Zenawi needs now is the terrible publicity, especially in America, that such executions would bring.
The judge adjourned sentencing until later this month. Even if a death sentence is handed down, a carefully worded apology by the dissidents could let them walk free. Mr Zenawi would probably go along with that. There is now almost as much that unites the government and the opposition as divides them. Some back his invasion of Somalia; many others agree on the threats posed by Eritrea, Islamist terrorism and separatist groups within Ethiopia.

But Ethiopians are stubborn. Most of the 38 dissidents have refused even to recognise the court's legitimacy or to offer a defence. They may be unwilling to sign an apology. Then there is the government's instinct for brutality. In spasms, it has muzzled, beaten and jailed the opposition since the elections of 2005. Thousands of young Ethiopians were sent to prison camps. The press has been stamped on.
All of this puts the United States in a quandary. Ethiopia, despite its human-rights record, is a key ally against terrorism. America backed Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia. Now it is pressing Mr Zenawi urgently to let the dissidents go free.

http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9475952

Ethiopia - Threatened Execution of Ethiopian Opposition Should be Opposed

Washington, D.C.July 11, 2007
Efforts by the Ethiopian government to sentence 38 Ethiopian opposition activists to death are anathema to democracy and should be opposed by the United States and other democracies in the African Union and around the world, Freedom House said today.
The 38 politicians and activists were convicted last month of “breaching the constitution” during a period of unrest following disputed elections in 2005. They will be formally sentenced next week, and the prosecutor of the case has now called for their execution. Included among the 38 are leaders of the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, as well as several members of parliament and the mayor of Addis Ababa, Mr. Berhanu Negga.
“Any government that suggests sentencing its opposition leaders to death in response to legitimate demonstrations of dissent cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, call itself a democracy,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy of Freedom House. “Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union, must demonstrate respect for the rule of law by allowing full freedom of expression and association for members of the political opposition, as well as other citizens.”

While Ethiopian leaders have presented the country as an emerging democracy in an otherwise tumultuous region, the government has been sharply criticized for its response to the protests following the 2005 elections. Scores of civilians aligned with the opposition were killed and thousands more were arrested. The U.S. government has been muted in its criticism of Ethiopia, however, and considers the country an ally in the war on terror.
“The U.S. government clearly needs allies Horn of Africa, but as with all alliances, there is room for criticism,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “The Bush administration’s engagement with Ethiopia should enable it to persuade the Meles government to refrain from such a heinous act of retribution.”
In the 2007 version of Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Ethiopia was ranked Partly Free. The country received a rating of 5 (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the lowest) for political rights and a 5 for civil liberties, and was given a downward trend arrow for the government’s repression of opposition protests.
The report also notes that freedom of association in Ethiopia is very limited, and most of the country’s NGOs are reluctant to advocate for policies that may bring them into conflict with the government. Similarly, the press environment is extremely restricted. Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press 2007 survey notes that “the broader political crackdown which began in November 2005 continued to have extremely negative implications for the media” in 2006.
Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expression of freedom around the world, has monitored political rights and civil liberties in Ethiopia since 1972.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2007&country=7175

Crushing Dissent in Ethiopia

11 july - On the 28th of June an international day of solidarity was held around the world to appeal for setting two Ethiopian civil society leaders free. About 40 committed civil society professionals from the likes of Amnesty International, Civicus and Sangoco and several Ethiopian organisations assembled in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Pretoria to shout, chat and scream for human rights in Ethiopia.

In 2005 over one hundred opposition members, journalists and civil society leaders were arrested by Meles’ security forces. This after these security forces, also referred to as the police, had shot dead up to 40 peaceful demonstrators who were protesting what they saw as stolen parliamentary elections. Meles’ EPRDF won nearly two thirds of the parliamentary seats. The opposition CUD came second and contested the results after serious allegations of fraud.

Ever since, spontaneous demonstrations have erupted and have just as quickly been quelled by police brutality, shootings, arrests and in some cases torture and disappearances to secret prisons, it is alleged.

Now, 38 opposition politicians have been found guilty of a plethora of indictments such as obstructing the exercise of the Constitution, or coordinating, leading and encouraging armed violence against the government, the violence the police had committed and endangering the country's defence.

On the 9th of July it was reported that the state would seek the death penalty against all those who hadn’t recognised the courts during the trial. Most defendants did not recognise the courts, specifically those of the opposition CUD. Only two defendants took the courts seriously from the onset of the trial and defended themselves.

The two defendants are called Netsanet Demissie and Daniel Bekele. They are both exemplary civil society leaders who have nothing to do with organised politics let alone opposition politics against Meles Zenawi. Due to their involvement with international NGOs and organisations they have received the necessary international solidarity and support. Hopefully this will prove sufficient to convince the Meles regime that conviction would be counterproductive for his regime.

Would it, really? As yet the international community has put some severe pressure on Meles and his cohorts to treat the detainees according to international law and give them a fair trial. But so far they have not received much proper or fair treatment. They have been denied bail for nearly two years now. They have had to sleep out in the open in the 2000m high freezing Abyssinian highland winters. They have been locked in solitary confinement for no apparent reason. Further details are not known due to the sensitivity of the case.

The repression continued and the initial 100 or so dissenters were held for nearly two years without due process. The main explanation that is given for the fact that the authoritarian regime can do as it pleases is that the international pressure on the Ethiopian authorities is lukewarm at best. The West, in particular the US, sees the Ethiopian regime as a Christian partner in a sea of “dangerous and threatening” Islam.

The Addis authorities are seen as critical partners in the “war on terror”. The Ethiopian army have most recently, as loyal lackeys of the US, invaded Somalia of course hunting the many terrorists that were plotting the downfall of the US in this country without any state or national infrastructure. The US joined in and annihilated parts of the Somali countryside, supposed terrorists included, with their massive C130 gunship Hercules.

With such important allies in the ever important war against global “terror” the pressure on the Addis regime will most likely not be as severe as to change Meles behaviour. But what is also interesting is the international community’s fixation on the two civil society leaders. Yes, for sure, they deserve all the help they are getting and more and should be set free immediately. But what of the opposition politicians and journalists? Why are they hardly getting any support if any? Why is Amnesty not lobbying for their freedom?

What is wrong with these opposition politicians in Ethiopia that they do not deserve our solidarity? What is wrong with opposing a ruling party through democratic means in that country? Why has the international community supported say the opposition in Zimbabwe? Why have they been crying foul every time the MDC are beaten or arrested? But why not pro-democracy activists in Ethiopia?

Let us just hope that justice returns to Ethiopia and that the accused will truly receive a fair trial. Surely that will see most of the accused acquitted forthwith. Time has a way of dealing harshly with despotic Ethiopian rulers.

www.civicus.orgwww.sangoco.org.za

Ethiopia yields ancestral fossils

The Lucy skeleton is one of the most famous human ancestorsResearchers have found fossil remains of early human ancestors in Ethiopia that date to a little known period in human evolution.
The cache included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton, and was unearthed at Woranso-Mille in the country's Afar desert.
The remains were recovered 30km from the site where "Lucy" - one of the most famous human ancestors - was found.
The specimens have been dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago.
The research team is led from Cleveland University in the US.
The palaeontologists have been working in northern Ethiopia's Afar region for four seasons. This year, they have broadened their search to new areas.
They have found these new areas rich in fossils including teeth and fragments of jawbones belonging to ancient, humanlike creatures - often referred to as hominids.
Dr Yohannes Haile-Selassie, one of the team's leaders, told the BBC: "One of the reasons why this discovery is really important is because it serves as a time frame that we know nothing about in the past and that's what makes it really significant."
He added: "We have a record of about six million years of early human evolution in Ethiopia, but there are also small gaps here and there and this one happens to be one of them."
The fossils come from the right time period to shed light on the relationship between the "Lucy" species, Australopithecus afarensis, and an even older species called Australopithecus anamensis.
The older species is thought to be ancestral to the "Lucy" hominids, but scientists need more fossils to say this for sure.
Dr Haile-Selassie said the new dig sites yielded the bones of many monkeys, antelopes and wild pigs, suggesting that the hominids lived in a far greener and more wooded countryside than the bare stony Afar desert region seen today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6291254.stm

The Lucy skeleton is one of the most famous human ancestorsResearchers have found fossil remains of early human ancestors in Ethiopia that date to a little known period in human evolution.
The cache included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton, and was unearthed at Woranso-Mille in the country's Afar desert.
The remains were recovered 30km from the site where "Lucy" - one of the most famous human ancestors - was found.
The specimens have been dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago.
The research team is led from Cleveland University in the US.
The palaeontologists have been working in northern Ethiopia's Afar region for four seasons. This year, they have broadened their search to new areas.
They have found these new areas rich in fossils including teeth and fragments of jawbones belonging to ancient, humanlike creatures - often referred to as hominids.
Dr Yohannes Haile-Selassie, one of the team's leaders, told the BBC: "One of the reasons why this discovery is really important is because it serves as a time frame that we know nothing about in the past and that's what makes it really significant."
He added: "We have a record of about six million years of early human evolution in Ethiopia, but there are also small gaps here and there and this one happens to be one of them."
The fossils come from the right time period to shed light on the relationship between the "Lucy" species, Australopithecus afarensis, and an even older species called Australopithecus anamensis.
The older species is thought to be ancestral to the "Lucy" hominids, but scientists need more fossils to say this for sure.
Dr Haile-Selassie said the new dig sites yielded the bones of many monkeys, antelopes and wild pigs, suggesting that the hominids lived in a far greener and more wooded countryside than the bare stony Afar desert region seen today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6291254.stm

Meles a dirty scum of the Earth

So now we're 17 years of hell under Meles Zenwaye and everyone from the youth to the elderly declaring him the worst leader Ethiopia ever had. If one believed in an anti-Christ, Meles would be it. If one believed in Satan, Meles would be it.

A few month back a TPLF gang asked me this questions, Is Meles worse than Mengistu? another subhuman add another questions? How come we are not see any goodness of Meles Zenwaye?

Those peoples who asked those kind of question they missed the point because the behavior and psyche of the third world dictators specially Ethiopian and African dictators are almost identical. how come they don't see when the meles regime killed Ethiopian on the broad day light, how come they donot see when meles shut all the medias, how come they don't see when meles abused the basic human right?

Most African dictators impose restriction on the rights of citizens to criticize the government, restriction on the freedom of the press, and also restriction on the rights of the oppositions parties to campaign against the government, it is forbidden for group associations or political parties opposed to the government. If you go to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia.. etc you can see it clearly.

If you go to Ethiopia in particular Ethiopian’s dictators act as if he allowed oppossitions poltical parties but only for the public relations purposes, if you say anything bad about the government you will end up in prison, so for Ethiopians dictator oppsitions means opportunists, that is how the Ethiopian government defines oppositions. oppositions leaders that the government can buy and sell as they wants.

The existence of Ethiopian federal political police force plus thousands TPLF under cover polices are basically a tool for the dictator to severely punish Ethiopian peoples just for expressing their dissatisfaction of the government policies, and the Ethiopian peoples massacred on the broad day light just because they believed that the vote was stolen, the Ethiopian oppositions leaders already imprisoned, and also planned for their assassination, and they put them in prison and torturing and execution is the hallmark of Meles Zenawaye dictatorship. So for most of us we know the behivor of this goverment, we don’t surprised when they request to death penalty on those precious Ethiopian leaders because they just won the elections. That is the only crime they commits.
But as far as the brave kinjit leaders since this was government intention from the beginning, I will say they will stay in prison because they refused to accept such a blood money, the dictator get mad and bark on the western ambassadors "shame on you" but he didnot ashamed when he killed the peoples of Ethiopia on the broad day light.

And also Meles behave as if he is working for the whole Ethiopia by giving for certain tribes leadership monopoly of certain privileges, of particular regions by locating manufacturing facilities in place, like cement factories in place, can you imagine electric bus factory in Debre-markos? Frankly speaking those factories are not really belong there but where politically valuable of certain ethnic groups by giving them minimal privilege to buy their support. That is what Meles to achieve here.

The problem of Meles Zenawaye of knowing how much support he has among the general populations, as I mentioned earlier he realized that no support among the peoples, specially the most educated elite in the city despised meles, since he came from the 5% of the Ethiopian ethnic group, there is no hope for him to be democratically elected because of his ethic affiliations, by the way ethnicity did not play in Ethiopian peoples decision to elect him but the man personality and his outlook was the determine factor
Meles is the most dislike leader of course that produce fear and doubt on the part of the dictator, and at the same time the public fear the government guns and bullets and that produce silently unwillingness to obey on the part of the public and the peoples
indicate displeasure with the dictator’s policies.

the author can be contacted at

kemalyy@yahoo.com

Meles a dirty scum of the Earth

So now we're 17 years of hell under Meles Zenwaye and everyone from the youth to the elderly declaring him the worst leader Ethiopia ever had. If one believed in an anti-Christ, Meles would be it. If one believed in Satan, Meles would be it, A few month back a TPLF gang asked me this questions, Is Meles worse than Mengistu? another subhuman add another questions? How come we are not see any goodness of Meles Zenwaye?
At that time I did not have time to explain, I just ignored those idiotic subhuman so after a long taught clearly I just start to study the behavior and psyche of third world dictators specially Ethiopian and African dictators as a whole
African dictators impose restriction on the rights of citizens to criticize the government, restriction on the freedom of the press, and also restriction on the rights of the oppositions parties to campaign against the government, it is forbidden for group associations or political parties opposed to the government. If you go to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia.. etc you can see it clearly what I am talking about.
If you go to Ethiopia in particular Ethiopian’s dictators act as if he allowed oppossitions poltical parties but only for the public relations purposes, if you say anything bad about the government you will end up in prison, so for Ethiopians leaders oppssitions means opportunists, that is how the Ethiopian government defines oppositions.
The existence of Ethiopian federal political police force plus thousands TPLF under cover polices are basically a tool for the dictator to severely punish Ethiopian peoples just for expressing their dissatisfaction of the government policies, and the Ethiopian peoples massacred on the broad day light just because they believed that the vote was stolen, the Ethiopian oppositions leaders already imprisoned, and also planned for their assassination, and they put them in prison and torturing and execution is the hallmark of Meles Zenawaye dictatorship. So I don’t surprised that when they request to death penalty because the oppositions won the elections. That is the only crime they commits.
But as far as the brave kinjit leaders since this was government intention from the beginning, I will say they will stay in prison because they refused to accept such a blood money, the dictator get mad and said shame on you the western ambassadors because you did not buy for me CUDP party leaders.
And also Meles behave as if he is working for the whole Ethiopia by giving for certain tribes leadership monopoly of certain privileges, of particular regions by locating manufacturing facilities in place, like cement factories in place, can you imagine electric bus factory in Debre-markos? Frankly speaking those factories are not really belong there but where politically valuable of certain ethnic groups by giving them minimal privilege to buy their support. That is what Meles to achieve here.

The problem of Meles Zenawaye of knowing how much support he has among the general populations, as I mentioned earlier he realized that no support among the peoples, specially the most educated elite in the city despised meles, since he came from the 5% of the Ethiopian ethnic make up, there is no hope for him to be democratically elected because of his ethic affiliations, by the way ethnicity did not play in Ethiopian peoples decision to elect him but the man personality and his outlook was the determine factor
Meles is the most dislike leader of course that produce fear and doubt on the part of the dictator, and at the same time the public fear the government guns and bullets and that produce silently unwillingness to obey on the part of the public and the peoples
indicate displeasure with the dictator’s policies.